The loss ...

To those who want to know, and to those who don't. To those for whom this matters, and to those for whom this doesn't. Here it is.

My tooth, is no more. With me. It was yanked out this afternoon. Without any sentiments attached. Like it meant nothing to that dentist.

It does not interest you, but there are things you must know. For the unacquainted, the saga began circa middle of this week. My poor little departed tooth was craving attention and space. I could not give it space but it got all the wrong attention. All that it ever did in it's lifetime is give me pain. No one wanted it in this world mouth. Everyone wanted it out. You didn't want it, I didn't want it, the dentist didn't want it either.

There is so much we could have done had we been together. Gorging on delicacies, going for cleaning sessions, the new toothpastes. The works! It's life had just begun. That's the thing with powerless little defenseless creatures. They have no say in life.

Coming back to the gory story. I was made to wait for eternity before I was called. He looks at it for 5 minutes and wants to extract not one but two. He wants all my money and he also wants all my teeth. "No! Never!". I was only prepared for one. He wasn't pleased and asked me to wait for another hour. I thought a better use of my time would be to eat something and that I did. Within minutes of my arrival, I was ushered in. The Anesthetist ( see picture for details) came

in to see me first. His brief instructions to me "It is going to feel like a prick ok?!" He loads the syringe and proceeds to perform the prick. Everything was just as he said only that it felt more like a prick. He refuses to pull the damn thing out for what seems like an eternity. What do I do? Scream as much as I could. Finally he thinks he is done. Or so I thought when he wants to prick again. Alright this was quicker. "Did it hurt? Was it that painful?" If looks could kill, he'd be a dead man.

In walks the doctor. General questions later he tells me that it won't pain at all (The liar) and the most I will feel is pressure. Right. And if it hurts me I am supposed to raise my left hand. Right. No it wasn't pressure it was more than it. I raised both my hands, but I realized that the doc had said that out of courtesy and was in no mood to stop. I nearly caught his hand but was instructed to let go. I yelled and screamed as much as I could, but no one listened. This is precisely what my tooth must have felt too. And within minutes the doctor is done. Calls for a scissor. Yikes!! Alright, the end of gore. He puts something that feels like cotton into my toothless gum and asks me to bite. I oblige. I don't see anything, but feel a tremendous lot. Next the liar taps me on the shoulder. I open one eye and he tells me "Off you go". Neat. He sends a huge bill to my waiting parent citing "Difficult extraction". Time for some quick Math. If 5 minutes of extraction equals 2k, how much will a 10 minute extraction cost?" Nothing for the person who gets it right, so don't even bother.

I run to my waiting parent. He is taken away to buy medicines lest I die out of horror and pain. I look up and see the Anesthetist again. With a lot of instructions on what to do and what not to do, he tells me "Don't speak for an entire day alright!". Now this is new. I've never heard this before. But I didn't speak. It's been 6.5 hours since my tooth left for it's heavenly abode and I still haven't spoken.

I came home and out of sheer sadness fell asleep. I merely shifted when shooting pain hit me. Apparently the effect of anesthesia was wearing off. All hell broke loose. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. I wanted to speak, but I couldn't. I wanted to yell, but I couldn't. All the activities involved opening of the mouth which I won't for the life of me if I can avoid it today. I can't stand gore. But it was becoming impossible to swallow a pain killer without opening it. Once it opened, I did speak 4 words "Yes it is paining", had orange juice, a pain killer and strawberry and vanilla ice-cream". Before you recommend ice-packs, I applied those too.

The pain killer somehow got lost in my system, eventually found it's way (Love and pain killers almost always, subsequently, find a way), and kicked in. No pain now, but a very very bad feeling around the area where my tooth once existed.

I don't know where it is now. I don't even know in what state it is in. Several centuries later someone will find it and want to study it in detail.

To my tooth, where ever you are. I want you to know that I loved you very much.

ADDENDUM: This is being issued in public interest (I don't think I can get more vain than this). The author of this post and her toothless self are both doing well. The author does miss her tooth when she takes a trip down the memory lane, but those thoughts will fade with age.